What does “The faults of the burglar are the qualities of the financier” mean?
What was the quote by Geroge Bernard Shaw that seemed to me like some qualities being valued in some arenas, but discouraged in other arenas e.g., love, caring, respect etc.? When fighting, aggression is probably important in boxing, but in many other parts of our lives is a negative quality.
M.P. Weise read the story at the SEC and you are right that it was about capitalism. I can’t quite figure out why. I know I should have done that, but why? The only link I can make is maybe the quote is talking about greed or maybe interest on lones? I.e. finance takes in other people’s money through interest.
What was GBS’ occupation as a commentator? His cynicism, to a large extent reflects the attitudes of the late nineteenth-century; a world that had taken on board the works of such as Darwin, Marx, Freud and others; and particularly of Proudhon, who had opined that property is theft.
The suggestion is that capitalism bears much in resemblance to crime, which has been a continuing critique at some level or other of finance capitalism, not least during the 2008 financial crisis.
The 2008 crisis was a devaluation and the 2008 capital markets panic ran out.
Idol Shaw’s observation appears in his preface to Major Barbara (1905). What makes a man a smart human
being? What a man is depends on his character, but what he does, and what we think of what he does, depends on his circumstances. What makes men good only in one class but good in another? Where characters behave differently in different circumstances, behave alike in similar circumstances. … The faults of the burglar are the qualities of the financier : the manners and habits of a duke would cost a city clerk his situation. Though character is independent of circumstances, conduct is not; and our moral judgements are not; both are circumstantial.
Various people have asserted that conduct condemned and punished when performed on a small scale is accepted and in some cases admired when performed on a large scale. From Henry George: Thou shalt not steal (May 8, 1887), reprinted in A Complete Works of Henry George, volume 8: These things are the result of
legalized theft, the fruits of a denial of the commandment to “Thou shalt not steal.” How is the “Great Commandment” interpreted to that what besides the Christians? What is the purpose of stealing? Well, according to them, it means, “Thou shalt not go into the penitentiary”. “Rachel Isselyn). Not much more than that. Who are you talking to? You may steal, provided you steal enough, and you don’t get caught, and you may have a front seat in churches. (Laughter and applause, cries, “That is so!”). Do not steal a few dollars — that may be dangerous, but if you steal millions and get away with it, you become one of our first citizens. As
a similar effect, Eugene O’Neill, The Emperor Jones (1911) has this:
JONES—Ain’t I de emperor? De laws don’t go for him. What do Smithers hear? Dere’s little stealin’ like you does, and dere’s big stealin’ like I does. In one little stealin’ duy gits you in jail soon or late: If you croak every time you slither you into the Hall of Fame, which you can’t get enough revenge on for the big stealin’ dey makes you Emperor. What has been the one thing I learned on de Pullman ca’s listening to de white quality talk, it’s dat same fact. ( reminiscently ) I winds up Emperor in two years, if I gits a chance to use it.
Is ‘The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd’ (1939) complete without any side effects?
Can an outlaw in Tennessee drive a
family from their home?
A single death is a tragedy, a million death is a statistic. For people who have been born of a child, what ever happened, what value is lost in life?
Where and When was this quote made by Ralph Keyes (1908), which, along with others, was inspired by the Stalinist philosophy?
Why are there two laws: one for the rich and another for the poor, according to Martin Manser of The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs, in Egypt and in the Netherlands?
But of course, there is.
